


Beauty From Pain

by justanoutlaw



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Depression, F/M, No Dialogue, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 09:16:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20112730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanoutlaw/pseuds/justanoutlaw
Summary: If therapy gave them, she would ask for a motherfucking refund.





	Beauty From Pain

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous on CuriousCat prompted: Prompt: Regina dealing with depression

It never goes away, and that’s what she wasn’t expecting.

Living in both a world full of magical cures and modern medicine, she figured there would be something for it. According to Archie, however, there is nothing that will take it away for life. Sure, there’s medications to make it more manageable and she can attend therapy to learn healthy coping mechanisms, but Regina will deal with PTSD and major depressive disorder for the rest of her life.

If therapy gave them, she would ask for a motherfucking refund.

There are days she doesn’t want to get out of bed. She lays there, reliving everything she’s been through, from the day Daniel was killed in front of her, to those awful nights she was forced to be married to the king. Then there are the days she remembers what she did to others, whether it be Snow or her father. She lives with the guilt and that’s what she deserves, she knows it. Yet, she can’t shake the horrible thoughts that she doesn’t deserve all the good she has because of it. She doesn’t deserve to be happy, her family, any of it. No matter what anyone says, even her own concise, there are darkest days where she wonders if maybe…life would be better without her in it.

Robin watches her with all of it and he knows, love can’t fix it. They may share true love, but no lightening bolt kiss is going to remove mental illness. So, instead, all he can do is be there for her. He talks to her, and more importantly, he listens. On the days when she feels she can’t get out of bed, he drives Henry and Roland to school, tends to the baby. Snow resumes her old duties as mayor, and Robin assures her that David and Emma have the town under control as sheriffs.

It’s 6 months after the diagnosis, that she starts walking. It’s Robin’s suggestion and she wasn’t sure of it at first, but Archie backed him up. Exercise is good for the brain and it’ll help clear her brain. So, she starts just by taking walks around the neighborhood, then around the town. She works her way up to hikes and strolls through the woods.

There’s no magical cure to what’s going on Regina Mills’ head, there never will be. All she can do is find her own way to cope with it.


End file.
